I keep old posts on the site because I often enjoy reading old content on other people's sites. Not everything that is old is bad. It can be interesting to see how views have changed over time: for example, how my strident teenage views have mellowed and matured.

But given the age of this post, please bear in mind:

My views might very well have changed in the 13 years since I wrote this post. I have written some very silly things over the years, many of which I find pretty embarrassing today.

This post might use language in ways which I would now consider highly inappropriate or offensive.

Factual information might be outdated.

Links might be broken; embedded material might not appear properly.

Okay. Consider yourself duly warned. Read on...

Yesterday, I blogged an Observer piece highlighting some of the unanswered questions surrounding the Stockwell shooting. Today, I’m blogging a Guardian report highlighting new leaks from the report into the shooting – leaks which appear to raise yet more questions about the shooting.

basic story is that a man under surveillance following the attacks refused to follow police orders, and so was shot five times at close range.

It now emerges that the man was not under formal surveillance, as no-one had bothered to identify him properly. He didn’t refuse to follow police orders, because he wasn’t given any. And he wasn’t shot five times at close range, he was pinned down and shot seven times at point-blank range.

And whilst I still think

We can’t go killing every Asian man in a big coat who doesn’t do as police ask.

It turns out he wasn’t even wearing a big coat, but a rather light and fetching denim number.

One of my many theories is beginning to look frighteningly close to the truth:

To my mind, it sounds like a policeman rather lost it, and shot the man five times in some kind of rage.

Steps must be taken to ensure that such a mistake is never, ever, made again – and if that means laws must change to make it harder for police to kill, then change they must. Someone somewhere once said that every time the police wrongly arrest someone, we lose a little piece of our freedom. How much, then, did we lose on 22nd July 2005?

Comment from Andrew Milner

Sounds like those trigger-happy cops always wanted to kill someone, and this was their big chance. “I shot him because I thought he was a threat to the other passengers.” “’course you did, son.” A civilian would be sent to Broadmoor, but a cop goes on an all-expenses-paid holiday. “Kill a Brazilian, win a holiday” competition.” Open to Metropolitan Police Service only. Some reports are talking of 11 shots. That’s sounds like two shooters to me. Any apologies forthcoming? Like from the tabloid newspapers that headlined, “One down, three to go”, and “Police kill bomber mastermind after Subway chase”. Absolutely disgraceful, but check the media whore’s code and you’ll see they were following it to the letter.

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